Toy



March 14, 1933. L. M. DUNN ET AL TOY Filed Oct. 51 1931 710 8 72 60 7.S" Lou/$5 M. DUNN. W/NIFREO H. MILLS M Mm w fwf employed in theatrical performances.

Patented Mar. 14, 1933 rra* ST TES ATENT oFF e LOUISE M. DUNN AND WINIERED H, IIIILLS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO TOY Application filed October 31, 1931. Serial No. 572,362.

This invention relates to a toy and, more particularly, to a marionette oranimal adapted to be employed in a puppet show.

Puppets or marionettes have long been The figures usually employed are small images of the human figure which have been suitably dressed or made up and which have the various portions of the body flexibly connected together. Control strings are at tached to each of the sections and are secured to the operators fingers or to acontroller to provide means by which the puppetmay be manipulated as desired.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a toy of the type referred to with members made of a light, durable material adapted to be molded in an inexpensive man-- ner and whichare secured together so that they will not separate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy of the type referred to having its parts so connected as to be capable of movement in a natural manner.

Other objects of the invention and features of novelty will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a ma rionette constructed in accordance with our invention; and

Fig. 2 is a side view of the marionette shown in Fig. 1 with certain parts in a different relative position.

For the purpose of illustrating the principles of our invention, we have shown the application thereof to a marionette in the general form of the human figure but it will be understood that the invention is also adapted to toys simulating animals and other objects.

The body of the marionette shown in Fig. 1 is composed of eleven separate elements, which comprise a head portion 11, an upper trunk or breast portion 12, alower trunk or pelvic portion 13, arms composed of upper arm portions 14: and 15, and lower arm portions 16 and 17, the legs composed of thigh portions 18 and 19 and lower leg portions 20 and 21. \Ve prefer to construct these portions from sponge rubber or'other' plastic material which maybe readily molded, and which has sufficient strength-and a durable surface adapted to be colored or painted to suit different requirements. s

The body portions'are preferably held-to-- gether by strings or similar flexible memhere, it belng understood that, wherever the specification refers to strings,'it includes all similar, constructions. In order that the strings will'not pull out, they are embedded in the composition of which'the body portions are constructed, while the ends ofthe strings extend outside of the body and provide thecontrols, i 7

As illustrated, a string enters the right hand side'of the head. This string extends through the head and neck portion, thence throu 'h the breast portion and then through the right arm. The end 26, which is pref-- erably an extension of the string 25', extends from the right hand and controls the movement of the right arm. A string 27. projecting from the left-hand side oftheh-ead extends through the head and neck member, thence through the breastand left arm portions, and terminates in the end 28 which extends from the left'hand. The end 28 furnislies means to control the movement of the left arm. Thestrings 25 and 27 provide means to control the movement of the head portion of the marionette and also form.

the flexible connectionsbetween thejmembers through which they extend. y

A string having an end'flportion 30 projecting from the right shoulder extends through the breast portion 12, thence through the lower trunk or pelvic portion 13, and into the right leg. This same string extends tl rough the'thigh portion 18 of the right leg and into the lowerleg portion 20, whence it is doubled back and extends through the thigh again and into the pelvic I portion where a loop is made in the string in order to anchor. it securely in the strings to insure that they will not pull out.

If desired, these strings may be attached after the molding process is completed. A

string 34 is similarly attached to the rear of" the pelvic portion and serves to control this portion of the body. Small weights 36 and 37,such as lead shot, are embedded in the feet and hand portions. This additional weight aids in controlling these members. 7 The marionette provided by our invention can be produced at a very low cost. It is preferably formed in a mold of proper design having upper and lower portions. The dividing line between the parts of the mold will besubstantially at the mid-point between the front and rear of the body. Pieces of plastic material are placed in the mold and the strings are laid between these pieces so as to conform to the arrangement described. The plastic material is then vulcanized in the usual manner to complete the molding operation. of the body, such as the face and the hands, may bepainted or otherwise'decorated, as desired, so that the marionette will have a lifelike appearance. I

It will be seen that the marionette provided by our-invention is easy to construct and has its members securely held together. 4

Not only are the members securely held together, but they are secured in such a manner that the members can be easily moved when'desired, while, at the same time, they are held in their proper relation. It will be seen that two strings are provided at each of the knee joints and that these strings are spaced relatively far apart. This permits the knee to bend in a backward direction but prevents sidewise movement at this point.

It will also be observed that the ends of the leg portions at the knee joint are substantially parallel in the front but are tapered at the back. This permits the knee to. bend backwards freely, but prevents the knee bending forward, which is the natural condition at this joint.

It will be seen that the thigh portions ex tend into recesses in the pelvic portion and that there are two strings at each of these joints. The trunk members are joined together by two strings which are widely separated so that these members will not twist relative to each other. The strings which connectthe head to the upper trunk portion,

The exposed portions,

on the other hand, are placed relatively close together solthat the head may be turned or inclined as desired. The arms are held together by but a single string. This should, be understood that the invention is.

not limited tov this construction, nor is it limited to the precise arrangement of these strings-which is shown. It is contemplated that the control strings may be separate from the other strings. In this case, the control strings would have their endsembedded in the body membersand would have knots or other enlargements to keep them from pulling out. The bony members could be secured together byshort pieces of string having their ends embedded in the members to be jointed. Knots would beprovided in these strings to keep themfrom pulling out.

From the above, it'will be seen that our invention provides a marionette in which the body members are universally articulated and readily movable atwill, and which has its members normally held intheir normal or natural relation. As the marionette can be produced in one operation in a mold, it is clear that it can be constructed at a very low cost. r

Having thus described our invention, we claim: v A toy having the shape of the human body, said toy consisting of a plurality of molded sections and including a head section, an upper trunk section, a lower trunk section, arms composed of upper and lower sections, and legs composed of thigh and lower leg sections, said sections being spaced apart and freely movable in all directions relative to each other, strings embedded in ,In testimony whereof, we hereunto affix our signatures. I

VVINIFRED H. MILLS.

LOUISE M. DUNN. 

